How Israel made history with first battle in space
Humanity crossed a threshold above the Red Sea last month when a Houthi missile heading towards Israel’s most southern city, Eilat, was shot down outside the Earth’s atmosphere.
The use of Israel’s Arrow 3 air defence system to destroy a ballistic missile fired from Yemen was the first time a battle had been waged in space.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have been criticised for failing to capture Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the Hamas ringleaders responsible for the October 7 attacks. The scientific breakthrough, however, could be more militarily significant.
It proves Israel can swat away a barrage of intercontinental ballistic missiles with as much ease as its Iron Dome short-range air defence system can destroy Hamas rockets.
The success was hardly a moment to celebrate, however, for the Israeli scientist who has spent his career studying cosmic warfare. Professor Isaac Ben-Israel, 74, the space agency chairman, said: “Excessive pride is risky. You can become too proud and then you become complacent.”
Amid escalating tensions with the Iranian-backed Houthis, the Arrow 3 defence system has shown its effectiveness in countering threats from Yemen.
The Houthis have emerged as one of
Israel’s most determined adversaries. Commandos in the Shia organisation landed a helicopter on a container ship last month in a series of attacks on vessels linked to Israel.
On Sunday, the militia targeted three Israeli-linked vessels in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a bottleneck between Yemen and Djibouti. The USS Carney, a destroyer, was sent to the Red Sea to shoot down Houthi missiles aimed at Israel. The Houthis have vowed to impose a blockade in the Red Sea until the bombardment of Gaza ends.
The rebels have amassed an array of Iranian-designed weapons during the nineyear civil war in Yemen against the Saudi-backed government.
On October 31, Israel’s Arrow 2 longrange air defence system shot down a Houthi surface-to-surface ballistic missile for the first time. During the same attack, an F-35I fighter jet intercepted a cruise missile over the Jordanian desert.
On November 10, the IDF announced that Arrow 3, the most advanced system in the world, had taken out another Houthi missile, thought to be an Iranian Ghadr-110, an interception that took place outside the atmosphere. Footage released by the IDF shows an Arrow 3 battery in the Negev desert illuminating the night sky.
The defence system, developed after 42 Iraqi Scud missiles were fired at Tel Aviv and Haifa in 1991, is designed to shoot down missiles in space before they enter the atmosphere. The interceptions cost US$3 million (NZ$4.86m) a shot.
Ben-Israel, who was in the IDF during the early years of Arrow 3, said: “We thought one day those missiles could carry nuclear warheads. Therefore we needed to respond as high as possible and as far away from the borders of Israel.”
It is not known from where in Yemen the missiles were fired. Sanaa, the main Houthi stronghold, is about 1799 kilometres from Eilat. Ben-Israel said a typical ballistic missile would reach an altitude of more than 300 miles (about 500km) – higher than the International Space Station orbit. It would take about 10 minutes to reach its target.
The Arrow 3 system was jointly developed by Israel and the United States. European countries, which neglected their air defences after the Cold War, have taken notice since Russia invaded Ukraine. Germany signed €4 billion (NZ$7b) deal to buy Arrow 3 in September.
Israel’s air defences have proven so far they can deal with the range of threats. But the simultaneous launch of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, rockets and kamikaze drones from Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen and perhaps the Iranians could challenge its systems. “It’s a question of quantity,” Ben-Israel said. “Quantity is always an issue.”